South Wind Motel v. Ohio Civil Rights Com'n

• Decision Date: 30 July 1985
• Docket Number: No. 85AP-11,85AP-11
• Citation: 24 OBR 386,494 N.E.2d 1158,24 Ohio App.3d 209
• Parties: , 46 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1259, 24 O.B.R. 386 SOUTH WIND MOTEL, Appellant, v. OHIO CIVIL RIGHTS COMMISSION, Appellee.
• Court: Ohio Court of Appeals

Page 209

24 Ohio App.3d 209

494 N.E.2d 1158, 46 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1259,

24 O.B.R. 386

SOUTH WIND MOTEL, Appellant, v. OHIO CIVIL RIGHTS COMMISSION, Appellee.

No. 85AP-11.

Court of Appeals of Ohio, Tenth District, Franklin County.

July 30, 1985.

Syllabus by the Court

1. It is an unlawful employment practice in Ohio for an employer to discharge an employee because of his or her religion. R.C. 4112.02(A).

2. In an employment discrimination case brought pursuant to R.C. Chapter 4112, for the Ohio Civil Rights Commission to determine that respondent has engaged in or is engaged in an unlawful discriminatory practice there must be reliable, probative, and substantial evidence sufficient to support a finding of discrimination under Section 2000e et seq., Title 42 U.S.Code (Plumbers & Steamfitters Commt. v. Ohio Civil Rights Comm. [1981], 66 Ohio St.2d 192, 196 , applied.)

3. The findings of the Ohio Civil Rights Commission as to facts are conclusive if supported by reliable, probative, and substantial evidence. R.C. 4112.06(E).

4. An unconditional job offer by an employer of the same job from which a complainant was discharged, based on alleged discrimination by the employer, terminates the employer's back pay liability.

Jinx Statler Beachler, Columbus, for appellant.

Anthony J. Celebrezze, Jr., Atty. Gen., Columbus, and Vincent T. Lombardo, Cleveland, for appellee.

COOK, Judge.

Appellant, South Wind Motel, has appealed the judgment of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas affirming a decision of the Ohio Civil Rights Commission ("commission") that the motel had engaged in an unlawful discriminatory practice when it refused the request of Lillie Walker, one of its housekeepers, for some Sundays off to attend her church services and discharging her for not reporting to work on a Sunday. The commission also awarded Walker back pay from the date of her discharge to the date she refused an offer of the motel to reinstate her to her former position.

Appellant has appealed the judgment of the common pleas court and has asserted the following two assignments of error:

"I. The court of common pleas erred in finding that the appellee's Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and Order that the complainant be awarded back pay less interim earnings from the date of discharge (July 3, 1982) to November 5, 1982, was supported by reliable, probative, and substantial evidence.

"II. The court of common pleas erred in finding that the appellee's Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and Order that the appellee had proved a violation of the statute was supported by reliable, probative, and substantial evidence."

The assignments of error are without merit.

It is an unlawful employment practice in Ohio for an employer to discharge an employee because of his or her religion. R.C. 4112.02(A). In an employment discrimination case brought pursuant to R.C. Chapter 4112, for the Ohio Civil Rights Commission to determine that respondent has engaged in or is engaged in an unlawful discriminatory practice, there must be reliable, probative and substantial evidence sufficient to support a finding of discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Section 2000e et seq., Title 42, U.S.Code; Plumbers & Steamfitters Commt. v. Ohio Civil Rights Comm. (1981), 66 Ohio St.2d 192, 196, 421 N.E.2d 128 .

Section 2000e, Title 42, U.S.Code, defines "protected religious practices" as follows:

"(j) The term 'religion' includes all aspects of religious observance and practice, as well as belief, unless an employer demonstrates that he is unable to reasonably accommodate to an employee's or prospective employee's religious observance or practice without undue hardship on the conduct of the employer's business."

In the instant cause, the commission found that the motel discharged Walker because of her religion. The findings of the commission as to facts are conclusive if supported by reliable, probative, and substantial evidence. R.C. 4112.06(E).

There was reliable, probative, and substantial evidence before the commission that appellant was able to reasonably accommodate Walker's requests for some Sundays off to attend church service. At the time of her initial employment, she...